


Batman, Falcon, And The Foil Of Men

by AuroraKant



Series: A Multitude Of Birds [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: And I included Duke Stephanie and Cass, And the Girls are still Batgirls, Batkids Age Reversal, Bruce Wayne is Batman, But the boys have to deal with other code names, Damian is the oldest, Dick Grayson is Robin, Dick the Youngest, Gen, The Major Character Death is because all of these dumbass children like to die, and, eh, life sucks I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22591765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraKant/pseuds/AuroraKant
Summary: Damian is the first. His father is already old by the time he comes to live with him - horrid 34 years old! - and it is time for Batman to get a partner. It doesn't stop at just one. There is Duke and his brilliant mind, Stephanie with the spark in her eyes, Tim with his curious nature, Jason and his steely resolve, Cassandra and her fighting spirit. There is Dick to end it all.If only it could be this easy. If only they could be happy.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne, Duke Thomas & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Series: A Multitude Of Birds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660951
Comments: 12
Kudos: 182





	Batman, Falcon, And The Foil Of Men

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! ^^  
> This is not my current WIP because the chapters for that one are on my laptop which is currently being repaired. This is something that wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it late at night while I should have been packing. Yay!  
> I hope you enjoy it anyways! And I love critic, comments, kudos and love! <3

**1\. Bruce is 34 by the time Damian comes along. He has been Batman for 8 years and the Justice League existed for 4 already.** Let’s say Bruce does everything the same way he does in canon: He finishes High School and then goes on a prolonged training trip around the globe for several years. He is 24, meets Talia, they share a hot, passionate, consentual night together. He returns to Gotham and becomes Batman. Only that there isn’t a traveling circus in town only a few years later. Batman gets known as a solo hero. Maybe that is the reason his relationship with the League is mostly business: He never learned how to become a team player. And then suddenly there is a kid standing in front of him. His son.

**2\. Damian becomes known as Falcon. He isn’t the first sidekick.** When Damian joins his Father at the age of ten, Superman’s son Jon is already running the first version of the Teen Titans together with Wallace (Kid Flash) and Jackson Hyde (Aqualad) and Mia (Speedy). Damian takes time to adjust, especially when both he and his father are horribly stubborn - and not the most social. He tries to join them several times but it never works out. There isn't a universe out there in which Damian al'Ghul Wayne gets along with one Jonathan Kent.

**3\. Damian stops being Falcon and Batman’s partner at the age of 17, after he uses excessive force in the field and killed a crook.** They have been fighting for ages beforehand already. With Alfred being the only calming presence in the Manor there is nothing to soften the verbal - and oftentimes physical - blows between them. Damian, after being accused again and again of being too cruel, snapped and declares himself no longer associated to Batman. Bruce just tells him that that was the reason the Teen Titans never accepted him. (Bruce doesn’t need to know that Damian is quite comfortable with Mia and Raven - both of them scared in similar ways to him. Bruce also doesn't need to know just how much it hurt to hear these words from his Father)

**4\. Damian becomes an Anti-Hero known as The Wraith.** He kills his targets, but he doesn’t like it: It is just that there is no way for him to see another way´out sometimes. He tries to do it as little as possible - he spent years with the Bat after all. He knows the rules and he tries to obey them, but... it is just so hard sometimes. Especially since the world doesn't try to be nice to a 17-year old kid and his katana. He stays mostly out of Gotham, knowing that his Father is only capable of tolerating his sins by being able to pretend he doesn’t know about them.

**5\. A year before Damian leaves, Bruce met Duke Thomas during a Youth Outreach program.** The boy’s curious interest in science and crime fighting stayed with Bruce and a few months later when teen gangs started going crazy on the streets after the last Joker attack, Bruce offers to take him in. Duke is 14 and intelligent, crafty, fast - and he is nothing like Damian. And yet Bruce still sees his son in the eager smile on Duke's face when Alfred cooks his favorite, or when they play soccer and get too competitive. He misses Damian, but he swears that Duke is not going to suffer for it.

**6\. A year after coming to stay at Wayne Manor Bruce offers Duke to make his stay permanent.** Duke declines but becomes Bruce’s legal ward until the age of 18. His parents are still out there after all. And, so, what if Duke never tells anybody that he climbs out of windows at night and into Gotham. So, what if Light reflects and follows his command. So what if Damian visits him sometimes and tells him stories of saving the world. So, what if he likes this elusive older brother. So, what if they form a bond Duke isn't sure can be broken. So, what if he never tells Bruce.

**7\. Duke becomes the Signal when he is 15.** Bruce makes him promise to only go out during the day. He doesn’t want another one of his sons to turn dark. They don’t need that. Duke promises - and keeps The Wraith a secret. Especially now, since his meta powers no longer are. Bruce finally started working with the League, started finally building some friendships, since he asked them to help his kid with his powers. Duke almost loses his shit the first time Superman comes over for lunch. Fucking Superman! In Wayne Manor!

**8\. Stephanie Brown shows up on the Gotham streets at night, calling herself Spoiler.** She is 13 and spunky and fresh and with a spark not even Gotham can diminish. Bruce loves her instantly, so he tells her to go home. She doesn’t. He tries again. She still won’t listen. An injury forces Bruce to take her to the Cave. She is clever, within minutes she knows his secret ID. But then she surprises him: She promises to never tell a soul. When he asks her if she wants to move in with him, she tells him No. She wants to stay with her mom. Still he makes sure she knows that there is always a room for her in the Manor.

**9\. A few months later when her father is caught and put to jail, she changes her moniker: From now on there is a Batgirl saving Gotham City.** She doesn’t tell Bruce beforehand and it is quite the shock that first night. She swears, she saw him jump from a roof in surprise but he always denies that. When the news spreads, Damian returns to Gotham out of fear that his Father might be hurt. The ensuing talk is awkward and hurtful but it is also the first time they spoke civilized in years. (And if Duke pretends to Not See Damian nobody is going to mention it).

**10\. Timothy Jackson Drake makes his appearance not that much later.** Focused on finding out the identity of the mysterious Batman Tim stalked him for ages - until seeing them all on a roof together made it finally click. Batman is his neighbor. It doesn’t take long for him to get from that realization to building his own Falcon suit and taking on the streets in Batman’s shadow. The man himself tries to stop him, doesn’t want the suit his son wore to be given to another boy. No, to be taken by another boy. But nothing can stop Tim when he sets his mind to it. No matter how many times Bruce sends him home, Tim is always ready the next night to try again. And Bruce can only look in those blue eyes so often before his heart melts the way it did for Steph. He says yes. 

**11\. The second Falcon takes on the streets when Tim is freshly 14 with a 15-year old Batgirl, and a 17-year old Signal by his side.** So, what if Batman is always watching his moves. So, what if he is never allowed to hit a bit harder than necessary, even if they are taking down real scumbags. So, what if Bruce is never as nice to him as he is to Steph and Duke. Tim can take it. It’s not as if it’s anything new. It is the same with his parents. ( _And what if there is sometimes a shadow outside of his window? What if he found a dead Falcon on his front door?_ )

**12\. Both of Tim’s parents are dead by the time he 16. There is not a hint of hesitation when he accepts Bruce’s offer to adopt him.** Duke is still living at the Manor even though he is 19 and in college. His parents aren’t better yet and Duke no longer feels the urge to deny the bond he shares with Bruce. Nobody has heard anything from Damian for almost a year. The only rumors Bruce could find regarding the untimely demise of The Wraith in a showdown with the Heraldic. But there is no way to verify these. ( _So, what if the dead Falcons have stopped? So what if Bruce is dying inside to find out what happened?_ )

**13\. Damian dies at the age of 21 by the hands of his mother’s creation.** It is a punishment. He had only been allowed to exist because he was the Heir to the Batman. But he had proven unworthy. The moment he dies he can almost understand her reasoning. He didn’t defeat this last challenge against him after all. He fell to the hands of his own clone. What a drag.

**14\. Stephanie Brown is 17 when she fights with Batman about the finer details of her job. She is 17 when she starts a gang war, a contingency she shouldn’t know about, and dies.** Bruce shuts down afterwards. She was his daughter in everything but in name. He loved her, her spirit, her jokes, the flame that denied being diminished. Yet Gotham ( _He_ ) managed to do so anyway. Tim fled to the Teen Titans, Duke to his room. Bruce couldn't blame them. He would flee too, if he thought it would help. But nothing can hide him from his own thoughts. His own guilt.

**15\. Tim is 17 when he founds the Young Justice team, rattled from the death of his best friend and the silence at home.** He basically moves in with them, with Conner, who is at odds with his dad (?) and his older brother, with Bart, who is displaced in time and place, and with Cissie, who bears the world on her shoulders sometimes being the first young Amazon next to Diana. He is rarely seen in the Manor anymore and neither is Duke. They’re grieving and neither of them can bear to look Bruce in the eyes right now. Being in space and saving the earth is what Tim needs right now. Maybe it is time to stop being Falcon.

**16\. Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd happen almost simultaneously.** Bruce comes across an orphaned street kid trying to steal his tires and takes him home. He couldn’t let the kid stay outside any longer. He is grieving, not a monster. He promises Jason that he won’t hurt him, that Batman might be Bruce Wayne but Jason won’t be forced to become Falcon ( _Bruce really hopes not_ ) and the 14-year old believes him. Two weeks later Cass tumbles into his arms during a patrol that ends with Batman scouting out an abandoned warehouse and Cass passing out from hunger while hiding in the rafters. Of course, he takes her with him. And when a background search tells him everything he needs to know about David Cain, it is easy to invite Cass into his life. 

**17\. Cassandra Cain becomes Batgirl against the will of Bruce.** She steals the costume, the old one, the one displayed in the Cave, after half a year of living with him. Bruce should have known. He should have. Cass watched every video of Steph on patrol that Bruce had on repeat - and there are many. And yet he is furious when he finds out. He should have known and yet he is still completely shocked. He wants to rip the costume of her body and cast her into darkness but at the same time he has to admit: She is good. No, she is almost perfect, better than Batman. So, they make a deal: She will have to listen to all of his direct orders, never leaving his field of vision until otherwise stated, and he will let her become Batgirl. She agrees. Bruce has a bad feeling when their hands touch to seal the deal. 

**18\. Jason Todd is an angry child. Maybe that is why Bruce started to train him. Maybe that is why he let him go out as Falcon.** Bruce should really have handled that better. But now it is done: Jason is Falcon, his partner. And Tim is mad at him. His third son has angrily declared that he would move in with the YJ permanently and that he had no interest in finishing college and that Bruce could go fuck himself. Tim calls himself Black Bird now. What a ridiculous name. Even though Bruce can understand that he might have misstepped with Tim when he gave Falcon to Jason without talking to Tim about it. 

**19\. Damian comes back to life full of rage. He is burning, acid green light filling all of his senses. But he is back. He is back and angry and in the hands of the League.**

**20\. Jason Todd is everything Bruce feared him to be: He is fast, smart, clever, loyal to a fault.** He is angry, vengeful, and a bastard. He loves the kid. Hell, he adopted him when the kid was still 14 and now at 15 Bruce would proudly call him his son. And Cass, probably 15 as well, his daughter. But Bruce can see Damian all too well in Jason’s action ( _and isn’t it just nauseating that he hadn’t heard from Damian for 3 years?_ ). He fears for the boy, and every time he hits too hard, every time he kicks a goon on purpose, something in Bruce breaks. He can't lose another son. And yet he has no idea how to hold them. Damian was probably dead ( _No!_ ), Tim wasn't talking to him anymore, and Bruce had the suspicion that Duke had taken the League's offering mostly to distance himself from Gotham and Batman. 

**21\. Stephanie wakes up and screams. She remembers dying. She remembers pain and fear and torture. And yet here she is.** Doctor Leslie looks at her when she brings her back with eyes that ask for forgiveness and hands that have control over her life. So, Africa it is. 

**22\. The Joker. It is the Joker who kills the third Falcon.** Bruce has been too late, Batgirl not allowed to leave Gotham, The Signal on a mission with the League (his second oldest was part of the rooster now), Tim not answering his comm (it was because they aren’t even in this dimension right now but that will neither pacify Bruce nor Tim himself later). Jason is dead. Dead at barely 16, with plans to attend college and to learn how to cook unachieved. And with the cooling body of his forth son still in his arms Bruce swears that there will be no more Falcons. ( _And no more Batgirls_ )

**23\. When Bruce tells Cass that she will no longer be Batgirl, she nods. The next night she goes out as Black Bat.** Bruce can do nothing to stop her. It is her way of grieving. Well, Bruce griefs by burning his bridges. He doesn’t answer his League communicator, he doesn’t call Tim or Duke to tell them what happened. Duke knew, of course, Superman informs him personally, but Tim only realizes what happened when he visits the Manor trying to goat Jason into a game of Um, Actually… only to be greeted by the deafening sound of grief. When he confronts Bruce about it, all the man will tell him is that he doesn’t need another dead son. Not after Damian. Not after Stephanie. Not after Jason. Tim leaves. There is nothing left to say.

**24\. Damian makes his coming back by publicly killing the Joker.** He didn't know the Falcon that had died, had only known that it was his and that nobody was allowed to kill a part of him. Never again. Not after he had to fight through half the League when he got his bearings back. Not after killing had become so easy, he sliced a sword through Ra’s al’Ghul’s back. Damian al’Guhl is back. The Wraith is back. And he is ready to cleanse this city once and for all.

**25\. Bruce is old by the time he meets the last of his birds.** He is 47 and he feels every bone in his body as if he was 82. And yet he still goes to the circus when Alfred tells him to. He still goes and watches as the acrobats fly and fall. And fall. And fall. He sits there as a little boy, no older than 10, screams for his dead mother and father. His heart can’t take it. Could never take it. Didn't he suffer enough to make sure little boys like the Grayson kid no longer had to? He takes the kid with him.

**26\. Dick Grayson becomes Robin when he is 11, with an old Batman by his side.** Together they hunt The Wraith, Batman’s first son, never catching him. Together with Back Bat Dick learns how to fly freely again. With the Signal how to trust again in the good. Black Bird explains to him how the universe works. And yet… and yet Dick is never sure what his role is. He is a social butterfly and yet it never feels like enough. He doesn’t like the silences between Tim and Bruce and he tries his best to fill them. He doesn’t like the way Duke will sometimes disappear - and how disappointed both Tim and Bruce are by that. He doesn’t like Cass’s yearning look directed at the Falcon uniform that is displayed in the Cave. He doesn’t like how everyone is always sad and quiet and unhappy. 

**27\. Dick Grayson is still 11 when he goes out and finds the Wraith**. He is still Robin when he asks the Wraith to take him on as his pupil. He is still 11 when he starts in his plan to bring everyone home. He is still 11 when the Wraith says Yes and another adventure begins. 

(And if he has to resurrected the dead to do so, then so be it. But Dick isn’t going to sit still until Bruce and Tim and Cass and Alfred and Duke can smile again. And he has the crazy notion that that is only going to happen if Steph, Damian, and Jason come home too. And we all know the world is ready to bow to the mind of children.)

**28\. Stephanie Brown finally has enough.** She packs her bags and steals away in the dead of night. It is time to go home again.

**29\. In a grave on the private property of Wayne Manor Jason Todd opens his eyes.** There is only darkness above him and a suffocating smell of earth. They buried him. Before he can panic he punches a hole into the lid of the coffin. Time to start digging.

**30**. Across town a small redheaded girl opens her father’s laptop. She wants to try that bit of code her science teacher had talked about today during class. **Her name is Barbara Gordon.**


End file.
